


The Wolf and the Prince

by beatlesgrl



Category: Teen Wolf (TV)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Fantasy, Alternate Universe - Royalty, Full Shift Werewolves, M/M, based off of pretty art
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-07-24
Updated: 2015-07-24
Packaged: 2018-04-11 01:09:03
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 10,118
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4415228
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/beatlesgrl/pseuds/beatlesgrl
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Once upon a time, in a kingdom far far away, the people rejoiced, for they were happy. The kingdom was happy...until one day, the king fell ill. The prince was requested to marry the neighboring princess. He refused. In a fit of rage, the ruling king banished him to live with the beast. No one had encountered this beast and lived...However...</p>
            </blockquote>





	The Wolf and the Prince

**Author's Note:**

  * Inspired by [Artwork](https://archiveofourown.org/external_works/131621) by Pettry. 



_Once upon a time..._

Stiles was running away.

Ok, so he knew that it wasn’t quite manly for a prince of his age to be running away from a fight, even a pretend one, but hey he didn’t really have any fighting skills. Just because he was raised in a royal household and groomed for being King didn’t mean he actually knew how to fight. His dad, God bless him, knew how terrible it would be to send him into fights so he spent his childhood learning and reading scrolls. And pulling pranks on unsuspecting knights.

So his running away strategy? Totally viable.

He heard footfalls coming closer and closer and he gripped his wooden sword extra tight. This was his only chance to take him out before-

_Whack!_

Stiles stopped when his armor clanged with the familiar sound of an arrow hitting it and he groaned, “Really, Scott? That’s cheating asking for help from outside groups.”

He turned and saw Scott, now walking towards him, grinning from ear to ear, “It’s not cheating if she offers.”

Speak of the devil, there comes Princess Allison, carrying her bow and arrow.

While Stiles was groomed for court, Allison was groomed for war. She could fire arrows better than any knightsmen in the whole kingdom. Good thing she didn’t live there, or the knights would probably cry home every day.

Scott was the only one in their group that wasn’t royal. The son of a mid-wife (she actually helped give birth to Stiles), he was a squire and somehow managed to apprentice for the medical man in town at the same time.

Scott and Allison were also desperately in love, but they didn’t try to bring it up much, since Stiles was betrothed to her since birth.

It wasn’t like Stiles _wanted_ to marry Allison. His dad had sat him down one day, though, a few months after his mom died when he was nine, and he explained how he wasn’t going to be around forever. That this alliance with the neighboring Argent kingdom would help theirs in the long run. That he may grow to love Allison as much as any woman he was to marry.

Stiles didn’t think he’d ever love Allison as much as Scott did, but he would listen to his father. If only because his father was never wrong.

Allison smiled her dimpled smile and fluttered her eyelashes, “It’s alright, Scott, he’s just mad because he lost.”

“Did not lose!” Stiles pointed out because you know what? He was the freaking prince and he never asked for outside help, “You cheated by helping him!”

“Not in the rules.” Scott replied, his own dopey grin on his face and _dammit_ Scott being logical and cute at the same time is Stiles’ weakness.

Well, that and women with strawberry blonde hair, but no one needed to know that tidbit.

“Ugh!” Stiles threw his hands in the air and started to stomp off towards his castle, “I hate all of you. I’m going to pretend you don’t exist.”

“Have fun in your ivory tower!” Scott called at him.

“With your silver spoons and chambermaids!” Allison called right after.

Only reminding himself in his mind that he was a gentleman and a prince made him resist to give them both the finger.

...

_The kingdom was happy...until..._

That night changed his life forever.

Somehow, the king (Stiles’ _dad_ ) was poisoned at dinner time. He was still alive.

If only just.

Stiles refused to leave his bedside. He said many prayers to any God he could think of, just to get his father to return to his side. He held his hand and told him stories of all his pranks he pulled under his dad’s nose, just to get him to wake up even if to just yell at him.

This went on for two weeks.

The king of the Argent kingdom, in the meantime, agreed with the kingdom’s court that until King Stilinski woke up he would run the kingdom in his absence. They had wanted Stiles but Stiles refused to become king yet. Not until his father was older and able to crown him himself.

At the end of the two weeks, however, the Argent King, Gerard ( _Creepy King_ Stiles called him), decided that he wanted to move up the Argent-Stilinski nuptials to within the next week. They were supposed to wait until Stiles turned 18.

He was only 16.

When the maid, a hesitant girl named Erica, came in to tell Stiles, he had his first panic attack in years. He couldn’t marry Allison. Not now. Not when his father-

No. His father would get better.

So in a fit of bravery that he did not possess, he marched to the court the day before the ceremony and announced something that stunned the court.

“No.”

What? Stiles didn’t have to ramble ALL the time.

Gerard stood from his chair (his _dad’s_ chair) and glared, “What do you mean ‘no’?”

“I cannot marry Princess Allison.” Stiles stated. “Now is not the right time.”

Gerard glared at him for a minute longer, then took a deep breath through his nose, “Prince Stiles, the right time was back when you were 14, when we were supposed to marry you but your father refused.”

Huh. Points to daddy-o.

“The right time is not when you are 18. If you do not follow through with our arrangement...”

Stiles barked a laugh and crossed his arms, “I am the prince of this kingdom you do not get to threaten me.”

Gerard’s glare intensified, but after a beat he sat back down, “Leave Prince Stiles. We shall discuss this later.”

Thinking he won something, he turned on his heel and walked out of the court. He had pranks to plan with Scott to anger the visiting royals.

* * *

 

_In a fit of rage..._

That night Stiles awoke to a bag being thrown over his head and his hands being clasped in front of him.

Stiles had heard that this might happen; being kidnapped in the night because of his position, but there had been extra guards around. The Argents brought their own and they had knights swarming this place night and day.

Heh. Knights at night.

So how could he be taken now?

Then a voice came out and it made a little more sense.

“I tried to just let you live, Stiles.” Gerard’s voice called out, “I really did. But I guess your refusal to marry my granddaughter means one thing.”

“Bliss that you won’t be related to me?” Stiles spat out through the bag. It was hard, but he managed.

He heard Gerard chuckle and Stiles found himself hoisted in the air on what must be someone’s shoulder, “You’re going to meet something tonight. And trust me when I say Stiles, _it won’t be pleasant_.”

Holy crap Stiles could hear the italics in Gerard’s sentence. He was fucked.

* * *

_No one had encountered this beast and lived..._

When Stiles could finally see again, he noticed a couple things about what was in front of him. One, he had never seen this castle before. It looked like one of those castles that you came across in a scary book or something. No really who would keep this kind of castle around? It looked burned down in some places and torn down in others. There was one lone tower, the other one a crumbled mess on the ground. There wasn’t even a door to get inside, there was just an option of which hole you wanted to crawl through. No thank you Stiles did not sign up for creepy vacation.

Two, everyone else who had decided to play Let’s Kidnap the Prince! had kept at least ten feet away from Stiles’ back and refused to come any closer to him.

Awesome.

“Do you know where you are Stiles?” Gerard called out from behind him, and Stiles whipped around to answer.

“A dragon’s vacation home?”

Never let it be said that Stiles would miss an opportunity to sass anybody and anything.

Gerard smiled and woah it made Stiles take a big step back towards the creepy castle. “Much more than a dragon Stiles. Much more.”

Just then a howl came from the castle behind him. If it wasn’t for the look of shock on his face he’d claim that Gerard planned that to a hitch.

“Well. This has been fun.” Stiles said, trying to calm his now rapid heart beat, “Haha. See? I’m laughing. Now can we go back and I’ll marry her now...?”

Gerard’s creepy smile came back, “Oh no mister. You lost that chance. Enjoy your future. Or, heh, what’s left of it.”

A fire broke out right in front of them and it made Stiles jump back some more to avoid it. They must’ve put a line down of something and set it on fire. Just so Stiles couldn’t leave.

Overkill much?

Since he couldn’t go that way...guess Stiles had to go towards the scary castle. Where it was nearly burned down and where he was going to die. Great.

Trying to swallow the panic attack he knew was coming, he walked towards the creepy castle.

* * *

_ However... _

Once Stiles stepped into the hole that he assumed was once the door, he realized that there had been growling going on before he came in. The only reason he realized this? Because it suddenly got super-quiet.

He gulped and looked around the inside of his new home. At least he hoped he had a future.

He decided that the best-and worst-place for him to sleep would be the tower. Best because it looked less likely to collapse on him and it had a roof. Worst because this beast could’ve decided this too.

Well. Best to get the killing over with quickly. Maybe with his luck he’ll get to be with both his parents in the after-life.

Woah bad thought Stiles. Panic attack is more imminent with that kind of thinking.

He took a deep breath and headed towards the tower. He noticed that there was an actual door to the tower, which made Stiles feel a little better. Maybe he can lock out the beast?

He raised his hand to open the door but hesitated. What if someone was in there? What if _it_ was in there? He decided the best option was to knock.

KNOCK! KNOCK!

He waited for a few seconds, but there was no sound in return. No growling, no footsteps, nothing. Huh.

He slowly turned the knob and entered the tower. He almost turned around and left again.

Inside was a tidy kitchen, complete with an oven and fireplace. A set of stairs lay next to the door, both going up and down. Up on his left, down on his right. Someone actually did live here. The fire was still going even, cracking and glowing in the corner. He took another breath and went up the stairs to see where he was going to live now. After only taking ten steps, less than he expected, he stumbled on what must be a bedroom. It looked well-lived. The bed wasn’t done, and there were claw marks everywhere. As he looked around the room, he realized that the whole room was covered in claw marks. The tapestries had claw marks, the stones were gouged deep with claw marks, and the floor was scratched heavily with claw marks.   
Maybe not the best place to sleep.

He went back down the stairs and went down further into the tower. There were more steps going down, it seemed like a ton actually, but he saw a door about 100 or 150 steps down that looked neat, untouched.

He opened it.

Inside was what looked like a neat room. Under a layer of dust was a simple straw mattress in the corner and a broken mirror in the other. It looked like someone had punched it long ago in rage.

Guess this will have to be his new room!

A loud howl came from just outside, up the stairs in the kitchen, and Stiles shut the door as quickly as he could. The last thing he needed was to be attacked now.

Tomorrow, maybe. Now, eh not so much.

He collapsed on his new mattress and quickly fell asleep. That night he dreamt of a wolf, huge and glorious, prowling his room and sniffing him occasionally.

* * *

_The beast was curious, and allowed the boy to live...for now..._

When he woke up the next morning, his back stiff, he saw there was a plate of food just sitting on the floor. It wasn’t anything fancy, just a little bit of meat and what looked like cheese (how did he get cheese?!) on a rusty plate. There was a tin of water next to it.

Where did it come from?

Stiles looked around the room but it was just as empty as it was last night. No clues as to where this magic plate of food came from.

Slowly, he got off his hay and crawled on his hands and knees to the plate. He picked it up tentatively, and he noticed a piece of paper under it with writings on it.

_I don’t know why you’re here, but I would appreciate it if you left. Now._

_-D_

Stiles snorted a laugh and murmured, “Would if I could bud.” He picked through the meat and cheese and before he knew it, it was all gone.

He got up and walked to the door to explore more.

It was locked.

“Hey!” Stiles called out, “Hard to leave when you lock me in!”

A growl came through the door, and Stiles jumped away from it.

“Oi!” Stiles grunted out, “Someone told me to leave and I’m trying to.”

Another growl and Stiles threw his hands up in the air, “Fine! But you have to tell this ‘D’ guy that I tried.”

_Is he really arguing with a growling thing that he can’t see?!_ Apparently yes.

It’s been just a day and he’s already going crazy.

He growled and collapse back on his bed. And to think yesterday he was running around the castle pulling pranks.

He fell back asleep and missed the door creaking open.

...

Derek couldn’t understand why this boy was here.

He watched him sleep on Laura’s old mattress in the corner. He kept twitching his leg in his sleep and mumbling something under his breath. It sounded like he was talking to some “Strawberry blonde gorgeous woman who should really give him a chance.”

Derek tilted his head. He just showed up the day before with his heart beating fast and his smell like panic.

Panic and fear.

Normally Derek would’ve chased him out, maybe roughed him up a bit before letting the woods decide his new fate.

But the smell of fear on this boy made his stomach turn and he decided that maybe he should see why this boy was so afraid.

So he made him breakfast and locked his door for his protection. Of course his human side had left a note before his ‘wolf side had realized it, just telling this boy to leave. For his protection.

Derek scoffed. His ‘wolf can protect more than his human side can realize.

Most ‘wolf’s that he knew didn’t rely on their ‘wolf sides than their human sides, but so far his human side got his home burned down, his family killed, and the world after him. His ‘wolf knew better. His ‘wolf would keep him safe and get him through the day.

The boy shifted in his sleep, and his hackles raised. From here he could still smell the poison, even though he could tell the boy didn’t know. He didn’t like it, the sweet metallic smell that he could almost taste.

Now the boy was whimpering, and he knew this wasn’t good.

“Dad...Dad...help...”

Now he was really jolting in his sleep, to the point where he was about to fall off the bed. He thrashed and turned, and Derek could soon smell the tears that the boy was crying.

Derek may be a monster, but he wasn’t heartless.

Before he knew it, he had crawled across the room and laid on top of the boy, his nuzzle shoved into the crook of his neck and soft whimpering noises coming out.

Soon the boy quieted down back into a deep slumber, but not before his arm had come up and wrapped around his neck, efficiently trapping Derek on top of him.

He couldn’t find himself caring, not when he was smelling the boy’s underlying scent and it calmed him down enough to fall into his own unfit slumber.

...

Stiles woke up cuddling a monster.

Well, from what he could feel out anyways. He refused to open his eyes in fear that the thing on top of him won’t like his dinner being awake and will promptly eat him.

Stiles doesn’t want to get eaten ok? He had to get back to his dad and-

_His dad._

How could he forget his dad? Granted he kind of had other things to worry about but...c’mon, it’s his _dad_. The king of this land, one lying in a bed right now dying. If he hadn’t woken up yet.

That was something else he didn’t want to think about though. The look on his face when he realized that Stiles wasn’t there. That the people they were trusting for so long were actually the culprits to his disappearance. His dad would be devastated.

If he was alive still.

The thing on top of him whimpered, like it could feel Stiles’ despair. Which was silly because monsters don’t care about their dinner being depressed. Maybe it wasn’t a monster.

Maybe.

He brought his hand up from its neck and scratched behind its ears. The whimpering quieted down to what felt like a purr.

Felt because he could feel it bouncing against his own chest.

Stiles creaked his left eye open and almost regretted it immediately. The thing on top of him was massive. Huge. Black and grey and big and scary looking from what he could see and-

Wait. Was it _licking him now_?

Yes. It was licking him. It was licking his cheek. Abort. Abort. Mayday. Beast is getting a taste of Stiles a-la-king. No no no nononononononono-

The thing stopped licking, snorted through his muzzle, and switched over to a man.

And _holy shit_ Stiles cannot deal with this right now.

He shoved the gu-bea-THING off of him and scrambles across the room. He took a pillow with him and held it in front of his chest. He knew it wouldn’t do anything against this thing, but maybe he could confuse it enough to get out of there before he got killed.

The _thing_ just sat on the bed, blinking at Stiles.

“ _What the hell_.” Stiles hissed at him. He pointedly didn’t look past the guy’s face because from his peripheral he could see that he was naked and no Stiles can’t handle that right now. One weird thing at a time.

Like why this guy-beast-person-dude was just staring at him like he was confused.

Stiles took a deep breath and narrowed his eyes, “Now, there are many things that I want to say, ask, and complain about, but right now I want you to just simply answer me when I say _what the hell_?!”

“Derek.” He gritted out through clenched teeth, and Stiles ground his jaw together.

“Ok, winner of the answers-questions-that-I-did-not-ask award goes to you. Kudos. What. The. Hell. Derek.”

Derek’s eye twitched.

Stiles closed his eyes and sighed, “If you’re going to kill me just do it before something else happens. Like I somehow turn into a cat.” His eyes flew open, “Oh man, could I turn into a cat now that I’m here? Like, do you turn because you live here, or do you live here because you turn? If I have to turn into something I think I’d want to turn into something cooler than a cat. Like an elephant. That’d be awesome. Elephants are kind of scary man, they can crush you with their foot.”

He knew he had started to ramble. It’s his defense mechanism. Talk until the victim gets bored or annoyed and leaves him alone.

“Oh I wonder if this castle would crush me anytime soon. I mean it’s kind of falling apart-no offense I’m sure it was lovely at one point-and the bricks are bigger than my head. They’re bigger than YOUR head. Just curious-”

“Shut up.”

Stiles blinked and looked at the g-Derek. “Huh?”

Derek’s jaw moved side to side and he clenched his teeth, “I’m not going to kill you, you’re not going to turn into a cat, I’ve always lived here, my family used to turn for years, I don’t really know if you’d want to be an elephant, they’re scared of mice. No offense taken.”

Stiles stared at Derek. Then stared a little more.

Then simply said, “Dude you _followed_ that?”

“Don’t call me dude.” Derek growled a little bit, but now Stiles wasn’t really that afraid. Derek already said he wasn’t going to kill him, why would he do it now?

“Why are _you here_.” Derek asked.

Well stated. He didn’t think Derek knew how to ask questions. Or use manners.

How long had he been that...thing?

“I...” Should Stiles tell him that he’s a prince that was sent here because he didn’t want to marry his best friend’s love and her grandpa didn’t like that so he kidnapped him and trapped him here so he could get killed?

Derek snapped his jaw at him and got up slowly from the bed, and that made Stiles want to talk, “I was kidnapped and they lit a fire so I couldn’t leave. I think they want you to kill me.”

Derek growled, but Stiles doubted that it was directed towards him, “I’m not a mindless killer.”

Stiles raised his hands up in a defensive gesture, “I didn’t say you were, I said they thought you’d kill me.”

“Why do you they want to kill you.” Derek stated again.

Yup. Manners. Maybe Stiles can get him to work on it.

“Uh....does it matter?” Stiles looked down to the ground.

Silence met them, and when Stiles looked up again to ask Derek some more questions, he was gone.

* * *

_He tried to leave, but..._

Stiles couldn’t leave the castle.

Don’t get him wrong, it wasn’t because he had some moral obligation to take care of Derek (although Derek did look like he needed someone to make him floss his canines and cuddle him at night). No, Stiles did try to leave the grounds. After their...rather eventful talk, Stiles snuck out (he didn’t think it was sneaking out so much as Derek not trying to stop him and eat him) and ran towards the woods. And he was greeted by a bunch of scary animals.

And it wasn’t just one kind of scary animal. He ended up running away from bears, coyotes, tigers, leopards, everything.

He didn’t think he’d even ever heard of all those animals living peacefully with each other, but these specific animals didn’t seem to have a problem with it, judging from how eager they were chasing him.

He also knew that running away from all these animals _might_ not be the best idea, but Stiles didn’t think his rambling would stop a hungry bear and a snarling wolf.

Wait. Snarling wolf.

He risked looking behind him and saw a huge wolf-like beast, growling and snarling at the animals.

At the animals. Not the Stiles.

He slowed down and turned around, still moving but not running quite as fast as before. The wolf was showing his dominance towards the animals, which were now hesitating in their chase and stopping themselves. It snapped his teeth at them and they all ran away. Well, except the hungry bear. Apparently when you’re as big as a bear you’re not afraid of some snapping teeth.

The wolf barked and charged the bear. It growled back and set his jaw into the wolf’s back. It shook his head back and forth, forcing the wolf to flop around like a rag doll. Blood flew out and spattered the ground.

Stiles winced in sympathy.

The wolf howled and twisted in the bear’s grasp enough to bite into the bear’s neck. In one fluid motion, he tore out its throat and he was dropped unceremoniously on the ground.

The bear lay dead, and the wolf whimpered in pain.

Before he knew it, Stiles was running over to it and rubbing behind its ears. “Shhh, shhh it’s alright, don’t worry, I’m here.”

The wolf whimpered again and nuzzled his muzzle into Stiles’ open hand. He licked a couple of his fingers and Stiles’ mind clicked.

“Derek? Is that you?”

The wolf snorted in what seemed to be exasperation, but he nodded his head slightly.

“Dude what were you doing? You could’ve been killed by my stupidity.” Stiles sighed and wrapped his arms around him so he can pick him up, “I know this is kind of emasculating for you, but if you could wait to kill me until I get you back to the castle, I’d appreciate it.” He gently picked him up and cradled him bridal style, his legs dangling around Stiles’ arms and his muzzle resting on his left arm. Derek whimpered in pain but didn’t try to bite him, which Stiles took as a victory.

He talked the whole way back to the castle. He didn’t remember what exactly he was talking about, maybe he told Derek about his old crush on his tutor, Lydia. Maybe he talked about how dumb Derek was to take on a bear that was twice his size just because Stiles was trying to leave like he had asked. Maybe he asked him pointless questions that he knew that he couldn’t answer while he was a) a wolf and b) in pain.

Whatever he was talking about, he soon had reached the castle and had set Derek on his own bed. He probably could’ve taken Derek to Derek’s bed, but he highly doubted that it was sanitary. At least here Stiles knew how clean or how dirty it was.

As soon as Derek was laying down, Stiles ran to the door to search for some water. He ran outside and got some water from a nearby well he had spotted before, and quickly brought the bucket back to his room. Ripping the tunic off his chest, he dipped it in the water and brought it to Derek’s wolfed out and bleeding chest. And he hesitated. Derek was still whimpering in pain and seemed out of it, but Stiles wasn’t sure he’d react very well to Stiles taking care of him.

When Derek groaned somehow through his muzzle, Stiles knew the choice had been taken out of his hands. He had to do something. He put his tunic on Derek’s deepest wounds, trying to clean them as gently as possible. Derek growled a little but didn’t move or try to take his head off or anything, so. At least he’s surviving so far.

He watched Derek’s wounds heal themselves at every stroke of his wet tunic, until soon it was Stiles just cleaning up the extra blood. Derek was still whining, but he was doing it quietly now, like he just wanted to sleep and be left alone. So Stiles dropped his bloody tunic and collapsed next to Derek, and he fell asleep right away.

...

When he woke up, Derek was confused as to why he wasn’t in his room. Or why he was surrounded by the scent of another person. Or why his wolf was whining at him going, “ _Mine. Pack. Mine. Cared for me. Mine. Mine!_ ”

He cracked his eye open and discovered that this boy was laying on him, his nose pressed snugly into the folds of Derek’s neck. Almost like he belonged there.

And for the first time in Derek’s life, even before the fire, he thought that somebody did. This boy belonged to him.

...

Stiles didn’t want to wake up. He was warm, cozy. Sleepy.

But some internal alarm was going off in his head. Something was telling him that he should probably wake up, because something was going on. Something important.

He peeked his eye open slowly to see what was going on that was so important that he’d need to wake up, and he saw that he was alone. Didn’t Derek fall asleep in here? How did Derek wake up and leave without waking him up...

The door opened and Stiles jumped slightly in bed, and he saw Derek walking in carrying a tray of food. His smug smile told Stiles that he totally noticed Stiles jumping from fright, that jerk.

“Oh shut it, wolfie.” Stiles snapped back, but he was sure that the comment was ruined by his blushing. He sat up and stretched his limbs above his head, “Feeling better this morning?”

Derek jerked his head to the side and made a non-verbal grunt. Stiles was going to take that as a yes.

“That’s good I guess. It got my tunic all bloody.” He gestured to the ruined piece of cloth on the floor next to the bed, “Although I’m not entirely sure how you were able to heal that fast.”

Derek shrugged and made his way over to the bed. He set the tray on Stiles’s lap and sat down on the edge on the bed.

Wow. Guess he had decided he was staying.

"By the way, how did you know that I was out there and in trouble? Because I was kind of far from the tower here and when I left I swear I thought you were asleep?"

Derek remained quiet for a moment, then shyly answered, "I smelled you."

Stiles blinked. Then blinked again. "I'm sorry. You can smell me?"

Derek picked at a thread on his torn trousers, which wow he wore clothes for him that's kind of sweet, "I have a great sense of smell and I smelt that you were afraid so I came running."

He still felt like he wasn’t hearing him correctly though. He could _smell_ him? “But-but I was like a half hour in the forest.” He waved his hands to help express how far a half hour actually was, “How could you _smell_ me?”

Derek shrugged. Like the fact that he could smell things that well wasn’t that big of a deal, “The only thing going through my head was ‘Boy trouble’, so-”

“Stiles.” He interrupted. He doubted that Derek had anything that life changing to say, “My name is Stiles. You don’t have to keep calling me boy.”

Derek’s mouth tugged up in what Stiles suspected was the closest he’d ever get to a grin, then it switched back to his neutral expression. Which was murder. No wonder Gerard thought Derek was going to just kill him.

It hit Stiles then. Everything that he had been repressing since he was sent here. He was trapped. He couldn’t get out. Scott didn’t know where he was. Allison didn’t know what happened to her ‘fiance’. His dad-

_Dad._

He dropped his head to his chest and tried to focus on breathing. He hadn’t realized that he was spinning into a panic attack until it was too late, and he couldn’t breath.

He tried to focus on anything other than the overwhelming fear of his own dad, but the more he tried to fight it the worse it got. His eyes started to blur from the tears that he was no doubt crying, and he couldn’t hear anything past the beating of his heart.

He felt arms wrap around his shoulders, gently rubbing his back, and he switched his focus to the comfort these arms were trying to provide. He felt something wiping tears from his face, but he couldn’t bring himself to dwindle on that.

After what felt like forever, he started to hear a voice saying, “Stiles? _Stiles_. What’s happening? STILES!”

Over and over. Like Stiles could just snap out of it and respond.

Stiles kept fighting against the overwhelming urge to never breath again and when he felt like he had air again he said, “Panic attack. Couldn’t breath.”

He heard a growl in his ear, like Derek was willing to attach the source of whatever made him unable to breath. Touching.

After another minute of Derek practically straddling his lap and hugging the panic out of him, Stiles felt well enough to softly say, “Uh dude? You can let go now. I’m alright.”

Derek’s hands froze from where they had been rubbing gently against his back still, and he slowly moved away from him, like _Stiles_ was the vicious monster that can turn into a wolf.

Speaking of.

“Hey, how come you’re human around me?”

Derek’s eyebrows furrowed down at the question, “What.”

Ah the lack of question mark. It was endearing.

“Well, everyone says a beast lives here right?” Stiles waved around the broken down room to emphasise his point, “So how come you don’t just leave? Be human?”

Derek’s hands gripped into fists at his side, and his eyebrows turned from confused to furious!

Not furious. Furious! Like his eyebrows added the exclamation point at the end.

Derek rose and left the room quickly. He slammed the door behind him.

Stiles was too shocked to go after him.

...

Out of respect for Derek’s storm out earlier, Stiles tried to stay in his room.

For about a half hour.

After that, though, he got brave and decided to tour exactly where he was some more. Why Derek would stay there when he could live anywhere else. Be a human instead of this weird scary man beast thing. Because really that’s what Stiles would do.

After scaring the crap out of Scott anyways.

There were more stairs going down the tower, like it was built underground. The stairs were covered in cobwebs and dust and the rackets to hold the torches were rusted. He couldn’t see any farther than two feet ahead of him, and he didn’t really want to go somewhere dark and creepy.

He went anyways. What’s scary after Derek?

Keeping one hand to the brick wall, he climbed the stairs further and further down until his hand brushed against some wood. Figuring it must be a door, he reached for a handle. But there wasn’t one.

Instead, he felt what appeared to be something layered over the wood, like a paint or-

Paint!

That would make sense. A mural painted on wood that was moved around. Sturdy. Hard to miss.

Stiles wished he could see it.

After testing the weight of it (not too bad, even for his scrawny arms), he picked it up and slowly carried it back to hi-the room.

It’s not his room. His room is implying that he wants to stay. He doesn’t really want to stay he wants to leave as soon as he can.

Anyways he carried it back to the room and set it down next to the window, just so he could see what was on it.

It took his breath away.

On it was what looked like a tree, roots and branches delicately painted on it carefully, like this was something important. Something sacred. Underneath some of the branches were names he didn’t recognize, and the roots had some too. The roots had two dates on it, like they were the dead.

He found Derek’s name under one of the branches. This must be a family tree. Then this must have been his original home.

What happened to it that made it so...decrepit now?

He traced his fingers lightly over Derek’s name. Derek Hale _19_ (the ending was smudged) _-present_

“What happened to your family Derek?” Stiles mused out loud.

Stiles knew then that he couldn’t just leave Derek by himself anymore. He needed to help him. In any way he can.

He looked at the tree and got an idea. He knew exactly what to do.

* * *

_ The beast was at war with himself. Keep the boy or make him go... _

It took him all night to gather the right berries to match the colors on the wood, but he was able to find them all, thank goodness.

He set the old wooden canvas out on the front yard and soon brought his own he found in the woods. It wasn’t as big as the one from the creepy dark tower, but that was ok. He didn’t need a lot of room.

Stiles took the branch he made into a paint brush and dipped it slowly into the first color.

...

Derek saw Stiles every day go outside and do something that even he couldn’t see.

He always came back filthy, like he was rolling in berries and grass and mud. What was Stiles doing that made him so filthy every day? And why did he always look really happy after?

Derek decided to just let him be, for now. Stiles isn’t disturbing him after all. If he wants to stay here, at least Derek will get to smell pack for that much longer.

...

After what felt like Stiles months, but was probably just a couple weeks, he finally got done with what he was doing. Now to find Derek to show him.

That might be the scariest part of this entire thing.

Stiles climbed the tower steps towards Derek’s room, and hesitantly knocked on the door. This could go either very good, or Stiles might die in a bloody death.

At least then Stiles wouldn’t have any more worries.

Derek, in his beast form, opened the door and looked Stiles up and down. He gave a snuffle, which to Stiles meant _What the hell do you want?_

Stiles stood up straighter, “I’ve got something to show you.”

A curious look from Derek.

“I promise it isn’t that bad.” Stiles extended a hand but thought better of touching Derek, “Please?”

Derek gave a snort, but went past Stiles down the stairs to the open outside door. He looked back at him and gave a jerk of his head.

At least Stiles wasn’t dead yet?

...

When they got to what Stiles had been working on, Derek froze in the spot and stared at the piece of wood.

Stiles had repainted the family tree on a different canvas. It didn’t look as great as the original, but Stiles didn’t think that mattered. He had repainted all the names and their dates. In the center, he painted the symbol that he spots on Derek’s back whenever Derek decides that he wants to be human rather than the beast.

Derek stayed the beast and crept forward to the painting. With his muzzle, he touched the names from what must have been his immediate family, almost like he was saying something to each person.

“Uhh.” Stiles didn’t really know what to say to Derek to explain, “I found an old family tree and I decided to...repaint it for you room?” Stiles shrugged even though Derek couldn’t see him, “I figured you’d want a piece of your family nearby where it actually looks good?” Stiles paled, “Not that the original wasn’t good! It was just old and hidden and hard to read so I dunno, I thought maybe this would be better and...”

Derek transformed to human and touched his fingers to the names now. Stiles had to avoid looking at Derek’s bare ass as Derek just stood there looking at the names.

Derek’s voice came out from where he was standing, “Thank you.”

Stiles’ jaw dropped slightly. “Uh, no problem.”

He moved so he was next to Derek and he sat down, Derek following soon after. They stayed there for the rest of the day, staring at what Stiles had done until the sun finally went down and they could no longer see it.

...

After that, Stiles noticed that things changed between them.

Every morning, Stiles would wake up in his room with Derek, in beast form, curled in a ball at the end of Stiles’s bed. Stiles would reach over and scratch behind Derek’s ear, and he’d awaken to nibble lightly on his fingers before stretching and getting off the bed. They’d then take a walk around the woods surrounding them, and Stiles would recount all his stories from his childhood.

Sometimes, Derek would change into his human form and he’d tell stories of his own, like what his family was like and answer some of Stiles’s questions about his beast form.

Derek even came back one day, panting and a happy expression on his wolfy face, carrying what looked like a brand new tunic, since Stiles’s got ruined. Stiles took it and wore it proudly. Derek preened for a week.  

After a month of staying there, Stiles decided that maybe he shouldn’t try to go back. He hadn’t felt so happy before, even when he had Scott and Allison. He’d miss his dad, but at this point what were the chances that he’d even be alive.

When Stiles voiced this worry to Derek, he grabbed Stiles’s hand and dragged him to a clearing. There, Derek let Stiles have a mini-memorial to his dad, and they spent all day and night crying in the clearing for what they had lost.

...

Stiles never found a reason to go.

He apparently could leave any time, from the sounds of it, but he couldn’t bring himself to leave Derek all by himself in this lonesome decrepit castle. So he came up with reasons not to.

And Derek never gave him a reason to leave either. So. There’s that.

...

One day, Stiles and Derek were just sitting outside in the clearing, just sitting with each other, when Derek turned to Stiles and said, “My family died a few years ago.”

Stiles tried his hardest not to flinch or react in any way. They had never talked about Derek’s family like that, what happened to them that left Derek alone here.

Derek took a deep breath and continued, “It was midnight, I had just left to chase a scent of someone I knew, someone I thought loved me...”

Stiles put his hand in Derek’s, hoping that Derek took it for what it was; comfort to go on, not pity.

Derek shifted his hand so their fingers were interlocked and he continued, “When I got back, the castle was in flames. I could hear their cries, but I couldn’t get in to save them. I couldn’t...”

Stiles squeezed his hand gently. Derek didn’t finish the story.

...

Slowly, and surely, Stiles found himself more and more drawn to Derek. In a way that he hadn’t felt for another person before.

Not even Scott had he felt so connected to another person. Not even his own dad. And since Gerard thought he was dead, well.

Maybe the ‘beast’ was better than the real demons at home.

* * *

_ The old man grew impatient... _

In the end, it shouldn’t have surprised him that something bad was going to happen when he didn’t die, but he didn’t see it coming.

Stiles was violently awoken by a hand covering his mouth, and a familiar voice whispering in his ear, “Why can’t you just die?”

He didn’t get a chance to scream before the heavy object came down on his head.

...

Derek trotted down the stairs early in the morning, as per his usual routine. He wasn’t comfortable sleeping all the time at the end of Stiles’ bed, but he did enjoy his company.

Lately he found himself going down earlier and earlier.

But last night had been a rare good night’s sleep. He didn’t have any nightmares or haunting thoughts throughout the night. He was in a good mood.

When he got to Stiles’ door, however, that mood changed. He couldn’t smell Stiles in the room. There was a heartbeat, but it didn’t match Stiles’ normal heart rate. It sounded like one of an old man.

Derek burst into the room and saw what indeed was an older man sitting on Stiles’ bed, reading what looked like an old book. He looked up when the door opened and the look on his face was almost feral.

“Ah! Derek! So glad you could join me.” He set the book down and stood up slowly, “I did wonder when you’d wake up.” He stretched his limbs above his head, “So tell me why you haven’t killed the boy yet.”

Derek’s eyes, even in wolf form, narrowed at the statement. Why would he kill anybody?

The old man laughed, “Oh hush you. Isn’t it in a beast’s nature to kill?”

Derek growled. He shifted into his human form and let his claws grow.   
The old man didn’t even flinch, he just sighed and leaned against the wall, “Oh come on, Derek. Use your words.”

Derek ground his fangs together. He really didn’t understand how this guy knew his name, what he was doing here...

_Where Stiles was._

“Where’s Stiles.” Derek didn’t even bother making it a question. This guy will tell him where Stiles is or so help him, he will become a killer today.

The old man smiled a twisted grin, like this was where he wanted Derek to go, “Want me to show you?

...

When Stiles came to, it was to complete darkness.

His head was killing him, he couldn’t remember anything from earlier, and he was pretty sure that he couldn’t move his arms or legs.

And when he tried to move his arms to feel his head, he couldn’t move them very far. It felt like he was surrounded by wood. He could also feel a small trickle of dirt land on his stomach.

Where was he?

...

Derek didn’t trust this man at all. He could be lying about where Stiles it. But his heartbeat was steady when he offered to show Derek, and this was the best lead he could get. He couldn’t smell Stiles for miles. So this old man knew where Stiles was when Derek didn’t.

It made his skin itch.

The man lead him around the back of the former castle. The smell of superiority and smugness made Derek’s nose itch, but he needed to keep him alive.

For now.

“You don’t know who I am don’t you?” The old man chuckled from in front of Derek. Derek only responded with a growl. He didn’t need to talk to him if he didn’t have to.

“It’s just as well.” He shrugged from what Derek could see, “My daughter was the one that killed your family.”

...

Stiles hadn’t had a panic attack since that one time, when Derek had comforted him by practically straddling him, but as he came back into focus, he could tell that he was going to get another one.

He noticed that the air he was breathing felt thin, like he doesn’t have much left. It reminded him too much of the feeling of a panic attack, his inability to breath, his lightheadedness...

He just hoped that wherever he was, Derek would come for him.

Derek always came for him.

...

Derek jumped in front of this man and gave his fiercest howl. His family died because of his own stupidity, trusting that horrible woman who was this man’s daughter.

He couldn’t take her life, but he’ll make sure that this man pays her price.

The man didn’t even blink, didn’t show any emotions, he only replied, “Really, Derek, is that how you treat your guests?” He chuckled, “Well, other than that little Stilinski.” The man looked over Derek’s shoulder, “But alas, I must show you what happened to him, huh?”

He went around Derek and continued, and Derek wondered in his mind whether he should trust an old man who wasn’t afraid of him.

...

Stiles was quickly losing consciousness...

Soon he knew he’d be gone...

_Derek..._

...

Finally, this stranger stops at what looks like a hole in the ground.

It wasn’t that impressive of a hole. It was about six feet long and six feet deep. A shovel was perched in the disturbed dirt next to it.

Derek cautiously moved to the edge and took a couple sniffs.

...

He could feel himself coughing up the carbon dioxide.

He felt light headed. Dizzy.

_Derek..._

...

All Derek could smell was this old man who had taken Stiles. He couldn’t smell Stiles at all.

He turned and pounced on the old man, growling and snarling. Where was his Stiles?

The old man laughed, “You think I’d take you to where he was?”

Derek crawled off him slowly, horror in his mind.

He stayed down, but he continued, “No, this is just what we did to him. Difference is he’s in a coffin buried.” He lifted his head and looked into Derek’s eyes, “You’re probably too late to help him.”

The old man died laughing, even after Derek ripped his throat out.

...

_He was floating. He couldn’t tell what was going on._

_He could hear something calling above him, but he couldn’t tell what they were saying._

_Why wouldn’t they let him float..._

...

As soon as the light went out in the old man’s eyes, Derek took off running into the forest. He was going to find Stiles.

He had to.

...

_He could hear more noises, but he ignored it._

_He let himself drown._

...

Derek couldn’t find Stiles’ scent. He couldn’t hear Stiles’ heartbeat.

He dropped to his knees in the middle of the forest and gave a mournful howl.

Stiles was gone.

...

Stiles came to when he felt lips press against his. His second reaction was to turn his head and try to cough up the bad air in his lungs.

“It’s ok, Stiles, breath.”

Stiles knew that voice. He knew he did. But he couldn’t place it. It had been such a long time that he had heard it.

“Come on, Stiles.”

Stiles turned his head and looked at his savior.

“ _Dad._ ”

...

Stiles was brought back to his castle, given a blanket to wrap around himself, and a hot cup of tea to drink.

He found out that his dad had woken up a couple weeks ago. His dad was furious that Stiles wasn’t there to make sure he was ok, but when he found out that Stiles had been missing for a while, his dad grew worried. Which was when Gerard suspiciously went missing as well. His dad decided to follow him, and saw him put Stiles in the ground and bury him. He had to dig the dirt out by hand since Gerard took the shovel with him.

Stiles was just happy that his dad was alive.

It’s just....

He needed to find Derek. He can’t just let Derek stay there, in that decrepit castle, all by himself. Derek didn’t have anyone else. Stiles wanted to be that someone else.

He loved Derek.

He felt a comforting hand on his shoulder and he turned his head towards the person touching him.

“Dad.” Stiles tried to smile, “I’m glad you’re ok.”

His dad nodded, but he didn’t return the smile, “You want to go back.”

Stiles took in a shocked breath, “What? Why would I pick that old place over you? Over Scott and Allison? That’s insane, that’s crazy, that’s...”

His dad gave him a look.

“...completely true.” He buried his face in his hands, “Does that make me a bad person?”

His dad sighed and he removed the hand, but through the gap in his fingers he saw his dad sit down across from him.

They didn’t say anything for a couple minutes. Then, “You found Derek, huh.”

Stiles looked up in shock. His dad knew...

He nodded, “Yes, I know of Derek. He and his family used to rule a land nearby. They were a great family. Kind. Then someone found fault with them and set their castle on fire. Covered it with straw and just let it blaze. It cooked the family inside. Derek was the only survivor.”

Stiles blinked, but he couldn’t seem to process it, “Why haven’t...”

“Why haven’t we helped him?” His dad said with a raised eyebrow, “Well rumor is he has a wolf to fight off outsiders, won’t let anyone near him.” He gave Stiles a look, “Well, anyone except you.”

Stiles averted his gaze. Derek’s secret wasn’t his to tell.

His dad kept talking, though, “He hasn’t allowed any human contact for years. What I want to know is how you got into there in the first place without the wolf hurting you.”

Stiles shifted uncomfortably, “I dunno, I never got attacked by hi-the wolf.”

His dad was silent for a beat. Only a beat. “You know, Allison and Scott eloped while you were gone.”

Stiles snapped his head up, “What?!”

His dad cocked a grin, “Yeah. Apparently with the heir and the king unable to rule, the next position went to whoever the future queen deemed fit. And I guess Scott was who she chose. Made Gerard and her father Chris furious from what I heard.”

Stiles gave a half-grin. “Well she has always been kind of cheeky.”

His dad returned the smile, “So Scott and Allison married and they’ve been ruling in our absence, and let me say that they’ve done a great job.”   
Stiles nodded. He figured Scott would make a great king someday. He had the kindness, the loyalty to his subjects, the purity that it took to rule with both an iron fist and a kind heart.

“So really, you could stay a prince and I let Scott continue ruling the Argent and Stilinski kingdom...” His dad raised his eyebrows, like he was telling Stiles something else.

And then it clicked.

“You...you want me to go back?” Stiles gaped at his dad, “But...but what about you?”

His dad waved a hand in his direction, “Maybe when I retire I can come with you, but I’m fine son. All I want is for you to be happy. And Derek makes you happy, if it sounds correctly.”

“No dad!” Stiles cried out, “I can’t just leave you!”

His dad tilted his head, “Why didn’t you come back when it was clear you could?”

Stiles opened his mouth to respond....

Then promptly closed it.

His dad smirked, “That’s why I want you to go back. Because your heart is there now.”

...

He mourned the loss of his mate.

This wouldn’t be the only mate he would have, surely, but he just...couldn’t bring himself to think of there being another one like St...

The ‘wolf didn’t do names. Names were something that animals didn’t give to each other.

Derek didn’t want to be human anymore. He wanted to be ‘wolf.

...

It took Stiles a couple days to figure out where Derek’s castle might be. None of the castle maps marked the Hale territory (and he looked. Thoroughly.) His dad couldn’t even remember how he had gotten there to save Stiles he had just followed Gerard until he was there.

So he decided to just wander. He knew it was in a certain direction, so he just took a compass, a tent, and some dried food towards that direction to find him. He had to see Derek.

At least to let Derek know he was alright. That he didn’t just run away without telling him. He owed Derek that much.

As he walked up to the grounds, however, he saw that everything looked much worse than before he had left. The dirt around the castle was dug up in random spots, and more stones had been taken off the castle. Not fallen, though. It looked like it had been pulled down. There were claw marks on them. There was blood on the stones too, but Stiles tried to not focus on that.

He heard a howl from the upper parts, and Stiles gulped. What if Derek doesn’t want to see Stiles?

He decided to make himself go to the door anyways, knock anyways. His dad was right, he needed to talk to Derek, and if Derek didn’t want to see him well...so be it.

...

Derek thought he could smell his mate from right outside, but that would be impossible Mate was dead.

Derek whined and shuffled deeper into his bed. He looked at what Mate made for him, before things happened to him, and it made him sadder. Mate would’ve taken care of him. He curled into his ball tighter and cried to himself.

...

Stiles got to the door and he could already tell he was shaking. He didn’t want to be attacked. Maybe Derek won’t.

He lifted his fist and knocked.

Immediately, he heard the sounds of an animal growling and charging down the stairs, but Stiles refused to be scared away. He knew that Derek wouldn’t hurt him, even if his racing heart didn’t want to act like it.

As soon as the door opened, Stiles knew he couldn’t ever leave.

Not his intention when he left, but when Derek opened the door as a wolf, his tears he shouldn’t produce at the sides of his eyes, and his posture....

Defeated.

“Uh...” Stiles stammered, “Hi Derek?”

The wolf blinked, then started to growl at him. At _him_.

“Bad puppy!” Stiles said and, without thinking, flicked Derek on the nose.

...

Derek jerked back from his illusion. Illusions cannot touch reality. Derek thought to himself, Maybe I am going crazy. Mate gone, now showing up like he isn’t.

“C’mon Derek, I know I disappeared on you, but you could at least _smell_ that I’m ok right?” Stiles ran a hand through his hair in a very Stiles jerk.

Could it really be....

Derek approached the strangeness, and let his nose gently touch the stomach, and he took a deep breath.   
And was assaulted by the overwhelming smell of _mate, love, home_.

He immediately shifted to human and dragged Stiles in a hug.

...

Derek wasn’t happy that Stiles almost got killed.

After Stiles told him the full story of Gerard and his dad, he growled at nothing while laying on Stiles for almost an hour (in his full naked glory so Stiles had to recite his latin alphabet backwards to calm down), like Gerard would come back to life and take Stiles away from him.

When Derek finally calmed down and got clothes on to be more human, Stiles decided he needed to bite the bullet, “Derek, there is something I need to talk to you about.”

Derek tilted his head, but otherwise didn’t say anything.

Stiles laughed awkwardly. How can he say this to him?

_Hey Derek, my dad decided to shoo me to you because even though we only knew each other about a month surprise I’m desperately in love with you somehow and he didn’t want me moping around the castle anymore!_

That’ll go over well.

“So, Derek, there’s a reason I came back...” Stiles took a deep breath and decided that the best thing to do was just get it all out, “I came back because my dad said that my best friend Scott- I told you about Scott right? Well he ended up marrying who was supposed to be my fiance and they’re ruling the kingdom with my dad so I don’t really need to be an heir to the throne anymore and I-I mean my dad and I- agreed that I should spend my time somewhere where I actually want to be.”

Ah rambling. He was worried that he lost that particular skill. Not.

“And I know that you’re probably sick of looking at my dumb face, but to be honest my dumb face kind of wants to be here. With you. Because I love you. And I don’t know how because we haven’t even known each other that long, but I guess what I’m saying is let me live here with you.”

Stiles squeezed his eyes shut. He didn’t want to see Derek’s look of disgust or annoyance or indifference of Stiles being here. Oh God, did Stiles freak Derek out? Would he have to go home, and pine for the rest of his li-

“I love you too Stiles.”

Stiles snapped his eyes open and gawked at Derek, who was-

Was he smirking?!

“Oh no mister.” Stiles huffed, “You are not allowed to smirk at my confession. It was heartfelt!”

“It was another ramble.” Derek replied, but before Stiles could snark back at him, Derek hooked his hand around the back of Stiles’s neck, and really, that was a better use of his mouth anyways.

... **  
**

_And they lived happily ever after... The Wolf and the Prince_


End file.
